James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

I have a feeling that one of you out there right now is designing the wings of a dragon, so this post is for you.

Here are a few things I learned while sketching a flying fox. “Megachiroptera” means “Giant Hand-Wing.” With a four to five foot wingspan, it’s one of the biggest bats on the planet, and perhaps the best living inspiration for dragon wings.

The wing is supported with thin arm bones and finger bones that match up with our finger bones, including the knuckle joints. The clawed “thumb” sticks forward of the wing. For a vampire bat, it’s useful for holding onto the host animal when it is sucking blood. The other fingers spread out to support the membrane, with the fifth finger pointing back to support the trailing edge.

The bones in bats’ fingers have less calcium than our bones, and they’re flattened a bit, so they can bend without breaking. The skin is stretchy, thin, and delicate. But if it rips, it can regrow.

As with birds and pterosaurs, there is a bit of membrane forward of the elbow. The membranes have muscles and blood vessels in them, and they’re covered with some fine hairs. They also have receptor cells that can feel how much the skin is stretched.

When I drew this specimen, which hangs in Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, I wasn’t sure what causes those yellow-brown bands in the wing. Maybe one of you is a bat expert and can explain.

14 comments:

Although I have no actual idea what the bands in the wing are, I think it would be interesting if they functioned like "battens" in sails -- keeping the curved surface wrinkle-free in the non-stretched direction.

If you go to the zoo on a hot day, they'll hang open in an effort to cool off. I got a lot of great drawings at the Columbus Zoo that help a lot with some dragon reference. (i.e. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/VulpesDragon/jhjkhgkjg.jpg) They might be trying to relax, but it looks like some pretty dramatic poses!

Hi, I've been a silent follower for awhile. I'm thinking the bands in the wing could be blood vessels. They do have blood vessels, nerves and elastin in the wing. I studied bats a little bit many years ago in college. The wing is beautiful, soft, pliable. Fun post!

Having drawn dragons for the past 25 years and working in a bat research center I've spent hours observing bat wings. I always meant to build a wing model to get more convincing positions. But never made one.

It's really hard to properly understand how these wings are used even when you know the anatomy.

Not sure what the brown bands are, might just be wrinkles. I've never seen these big bats alive, but maybe it's also an artefact from the taxidermy.